Deity of Christ

Jesus is given names and titles throughout the Bible that confirm His deity. This is a central concept in Scripture.

The deity of Christ is essential in understanding who God is and His salvation story. It was for this claim that Jesus, on trial, was declared to be guilty. The crowd asked Jesus to tell them if He was the Christ. He responded, “‘If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.’ Then they all said, ‘Are You then the Son of God?’ So He said to them, ‘You rightly say that I am.’ And they said, ‘What further testimony do we need?” (Luke 22:67-71). He was condemned for His claim. When someone makes a claim, they have to back it up with evidence. Jesus claimed to be God. His words and miracles, and, ultimately, His death and resurrection, testified to this claim. Those who witnessed His work also testified to His deity. Jesus is God. When He walked on earth, He was God in the flesh.

In the Gospel of John, the author is proving that Jesus is God. He came to reveal the truth so that one can believe and be saved from their sins. John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Who was the Word, and how was He with God in the beginning? Well, if we read a little further, John goes on to explain who the Word is. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” His words and work reassured people of this truth. 

Did people recognize who He was?

Thomas: In John 20:28, after seeing the scars of His Lord, “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”. 

Peter: When Jesus asked him who he thought He was, “Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Matthew 16:16).

The Roman centurion and surrounding guards: When Jesus breathed His last, the earth quaked, the veil split, and graves were opened. The Roman centurion exclaimed in fear, “‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54).  

Those at Jesus’ Baptism: When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, God clearly testified to the identity of His Son: “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17).

These are eye-witness accounts that Jesus is God. The incarnation proves His divine nature, and we also have other Scriptures that continue to speak to the truth of His deity.

The writer of Hebrews begins the letter by saying, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Hebrews 1:1-4). He goes on to testify to who Christ is using Old Testament prophecy from Psalms 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14. 

Jesus is the Son of God, yet He is also God himself as confirmed in Philippians 2 and Colossians 1. Let’s take a minute to look at these passages:

Paul testifies that “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:5-7). He goes on to say that Christ was obedient unto death and is exalted (Philippians 2:8-11). Then in Colossians 1:13-20 it is written that,

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it please the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:13-20) 

It goes on to speak of the Gospel, that we are presented to God holy and blameless, without reproach, because of Christ’s death (Colossians 1:21-22). Wow! Paul can drop the mic after that note! He clearly proclaims that Christ is God who is from the beginning, and that God allowed His fullness to dwell in Christ for the sake of reconciliation with US! God’s fullness is evident in Jesus’ earthly ministry as He performed miracles that no one else could. A woman touched the fringe of Jesus’ robe and was healed (Mark 5:21-34). The disciples saw their Lord walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33). Lazarus was raised from the dead after days in the grave (John 11:38-44). A servant was healed by the word of Jesus’ mouth from far away (Luke 7:1-10). Jesus healed the lame, the blind, the lepers, the dying. Luke 4:40 says that “all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.” Nothing was too great for His greater touch. Even demons recognize who he is! Luke goes on to write, “And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ” (Luke 4:41). 

Jesus is:

• The Alpha and Omega, First and Last, Beginning and End (Revelation 1:8; 1:17-18; 21:6-7; 22:13)

• The express image of God (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:15)

There is proof that Jesus shares the characteristics of God the Father, and how could this be true if He were not divine? Logically speaking, He must be of the same divine nature to share these characteristics; otherwise, God the Father is not divine. Here are some of those characteristics:

• Immutability: Hebrews 1:10-12; 13:8

• Self-Existence: John 1:1-3; 5:26

• Fullness of the Godhead: Colossians 2:9

• Sovereignty: Matthew 28:18; John 17:2; Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 2:9-10; Colossians 1:18; 1 Peter 3:22; Revelation 19:16

• Omniscience: Revelation 1:8; John 1:48; John 16:30; John 21:17; Matthew 22:18; Matthew 12:25

• Omnipresence: Matthew 18:20; Matthew 28:20; John 3:13; John 14:18-23

• Omnipotence: Luke 8:25; 1 Corinthians 15:25-28; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:3; Jude 24

• Holiness: Acts 3:14; Acts 4:27-30

• Creator: Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:10

• Life: John 1:4; John 14:6; Acts 3:15

Let’s take one last look at John. As Jesus knows His death is drawing nigh, He uses some of His last conversations to speak of the oneness of Him and the Father. John chapters 14-17 are Jesus’ words to His disciples and His prayers for Himself, His disciples, and for all believers. In John 14:19-23, Jesus, speaking of His pending death, says, “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (Jn. 14:20) and continues on, later saying, “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (Jn. 16:26). In praying for Himself, Jesus says, 

“‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (Jn. 17:1-5) 

In praying for believers, Jesus asks His Father that “they may be one just as We are one:” (Jn. 17:22). These chapters are so beautiful in hearing Jesus’ explanation of the oneness of the Father and the Son. Being fully God and fully man, Christ submitted Himself to the will of His Father. 

Believing in Jesus, means believing in God as the Father, yet their equality as part of the Trinity. According to 1 Corinthians 12:3 “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” The deity of Christ is critical to Christianity, and the reality of God becoming flesh is humbling. He left heaven to come to this sinful earth to save us… That is mercy, grace, and unconditional love.

For more information about the Deity of Christ, visit this article about the Trinity.